Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The crossover event of 2013 continues. If you haven't already check out my reviews for parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. So this issue features a big battle between the eight Roboticized Masters and Sonic, Tails, Mega Man, Proto Man, and Rush. Proto Man runs off a head to try and rescue Dr. Light while the rest of our heroes stay and fight. Wily sends the Roboticized Knuckles, Shadow, Silver, Rose, and Blaze after Proto Man while the 3 roboticized Chaotix members stay and fight. Sonic and Mega Man manage to de-roboticize them the same way they did Tails and the Chaotix agree to help our heroes. Towards the end as Eggman and Wily are chatting we see they have Eggman's nephew and former minion Snivley prisoner as well as Dr. Light.

This crossover is starting to drag just a bit to be honest. It's still fun, but when I first heard it would be 12 parts I figured there would be so much more going on than just this. There isn't all that much interaction between characters of the different universes due to half of Sonic's supporting characters being Roboticized. Mind you this isn't a bad story by any stretch, but being 6 issues in we could have done a lot more than we have so far. Still it is a ton of fun and if you're not reading it you should check it out.

In my area we have a small local chain of video game stores called Just Press Play. They stock not only current system stuff but also things going back to even Atari. So I love to get retro games there and the other day I saw this there in a display case and it caught my eye. What the hell was this? Shadow the Hedgehog didn't even exist when the Genesis was out. And Mighty the Armadillo was only on the 32X Knuckles' Chaotix game, not a Genesis game. Was I looking at a time/space anomaly? What alternate reality did they pull this from.

Well, I had to get this. Turns out this is a bootleg pirated game made by some guys calling themselves Team Megamix. There are apparently different versions of this, some have Tails and Knuckles as well as Sonic, Shadow, and Mighty. This one only has the three on the cover.

There game is a remix of Sonic 1. Each level is based off of the levels in that game but the color scheme and layout is different. Each of the three characters have different powers using the A button, so it's more than just a sprite change. Sonic can follow a line of rings like he does in more recent Sonic games, Shadow can boost using his rocket boots while running and Mighty can collect shields. The game has four different shields, the basic kind from Sonic 1 and the fire, water, and lightning shields from Sonic 3. Mighty can actually collect an inventory of shields and cycle through them using the A button.

The biggest downside to this game is it is a real bitch at times. These Megamix guys have filled these levels to the damn brim with badniks and spikes and lots of really cheap and downright annoying traps. Also there is a classic mode which allows you to simply play some of Sonic 1, but with Mighty or Shadow. In that mode there are no powers, so it's just a sprite change there. Plus it's only the first two levels of Sonic 1. The other downside is lag. There is at times so many damn badniks or whatnot on the screen that my tired old Genesis really can't handle it.

This game didn't come cheap. Let's just say I could have gotten a brand new XBox 360 game for what I paid. But for a hardcore Sonic fan like myself it was worth every penny.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Last month, just on a whim, I did a Hero Spotlight on Lady Rawhide. In it I said I hope Dynamite gets their hands on her as she's just the type of character they excel at reviving. And sure enough I see on CBR today that Dynamite is doing just that. I'm really looking forward to this. The writer Eric Trautmann said about the book "I want to capture a sense of fun - this isn't a grim, gritty book. It's pulpy, swashbuckling fun at heart." Issue one will be on sale in August.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

If you haven't already, check out my reviews of issues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6AU, 7, 8, and 9. So last issue Ock-Spidey apparently managed to destroy the last bits of Peter running around in his mind. I really didn't like last issue much and was hoping this issue would remind me why I was loving this series so much. This was pretty much a filler issue. Really all that happened is the Green Goblin is setting up an army of henchmen who have escaped Ock-Spidey's recent more aggressive crime fighting style and has hacked into Ock-Spidey's little Spider robots and now his men go unnoticed by them.

This wasn't a bad issue by any means, and I am looking forward to where things are going with the Goblin, but it was kind of a filler issue and really didn't manage to wash the unpleasant taste the last issue left out of my mouth.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

After the rather odd and unique song that was Thrift Shop I never would have expected Macklemore and Ryan Lewis to follow up that monster his with something like Can't Hold Us. I mean it's just another dance in the club song. This song is so amazingly generic it's hard to believe who it's from.

Now mind you, this is a pretty damn good dance in the club song, in fact it's better than any of the other dozen or so similar songs currently on the charts. But still, this is from the Thrift Shop guys? Macklemore does have some pretty interesting rhymes in this song, but he speeds through them so fast they're hard to catch until you've heard it multiple times or looked up the lyrics. And it is a damn catchy and fun song, but like I said, this is from the Thrift Shop guys?

With this hit it looks like Macklemore has avoided the one hit wonder trap, but this song has also convinced me that he will probably never be able to repeat the success of his first hit, and if that's true it's kinda sad to peak so soon.

Here's the deal with things like Adblock. Youtube, Blip, and many many other free sites you enjoy can't continue to exist without advertisements. He's right when he says that. But damn, this six minute whine fest was downright painful to watch. He talks about how this is his only job and he wouldn't have time to do this show and have a real job. You know what, in the current economy Lewis, I don't think a lot of people are going to be concerned you might not be able to keep reading comic books and bitching about them as your full time job. Boo fucking hoo my friend. Also, after lecturing his fans that blocking the ads is basically like stealing from him, he tells them if they don't like the ads just mute them and ignore them until they're over. Following your logic there buddy, isn't that kinda like stealing from your sponsors?

It's sad because the man has a real and valid point, but he undercuts it with his douchebagery. He should have simply said "Guys, if you block the ads, I don't get paid. So if you want this show to continue I need you to please watch the ads. I'm giving you 20 minutes of free entertainment, watching a 30 second ad is all I ask" Instead he decided to try and give us a sob story and it just didn't work.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

As I said in an earlier post, I liked the Daredevil movie. I know a lot of people hated it but I really thought most everything in that movie worked really well. In fact, in my mind, there was only one real problem with the Daredevil movie and that was Elektra. First of all Elektra isn't that interesting of a character. Karen Page would have made a better love interest and Typhoid Mary would have been a more interesting femme fatale in my mind. Plus Jennifer Garner is a pretty mediocre actress at best, and not nearly attractive enough to make up for it. I mean seriously, you could cut a roast on that woman's chin. So Hollywood, being the idiots that they often are, decided to take the thing that ruined the Daredevil movie and give it a movie of its own.

In the movie Elektra has been brought back to life with ninja magic, and now works as an assassin for hire. She gets hired to crash at a lake house and wait for her target to be announced. During the waiting period she befriends her neighbors, a man and his daughter. Turns out the man and his daughter are her targets but she ends up deciding to spare their lives and works to protect them from the evil ninja group the Hand. It turns out they want the daughter because she's a "treasure" like Elektra, with means she's a natural martial arts prodigy. The Hand sends it's group of freaks with magic powers after them and Elektra defeats them all. The girl is killed in the process, but don't worry she gets better thanks to ninja magic.

This movie is so unbelievably boring. Even once the action starts the fights are choreographed in a way that feels so stiff and predictable. Garner is a piss poor actress, but I don't think any actress could have gotten anything out of this script. Elektra probably shouldn't have even been in the Daredevil movie and definitely isn't a strong enough character to support her own movie. Also, this movie took Typhoid Mary, one of my favorite Marvel characters, and turned her into a ninja chick with poison breath. And it was lame as hell.

Of the last nearly 20 years Marvel has had a lot of movies. Ever since Blade Marvel has been dominating the comic book movie landscape. Of all those movies this is probably the single worst movie Marvel has put in the theaters. Only the Man-Thing movie was worse and at least they had the good sense to premier that mess on Sci-Fi Channel rather than give it a theatrical release. Elektra is a piece of absolute boring drivel. In short, this movie is bad and everyone involved should feel bad.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

My dad was a huge Star Trek fan, so I grew up watching TNG, reruns of the original series and the movies over and over again, and I even watched Voyager a lot through middle and high school, so I obviously developed quite an affinity for the franchise. Star Trek always seemed like the thinking man's sci fi to me. Star Wars was about monks who fight in space with magic powers, but Trek was about asking deep questions and exploring the complexities of when cultures collide. Sure it had low points but at its best it was an incredible mix of strong characters and high concept. And then J. J. Abrams came and pissed in its mouth.

The 2009 Star Trek was a damn mess. While I thought Zachary Quinto was a decent enough Spock, everyone else was a cartoon parody. And it was sooooo stupid. I loathed that movie. But a friend dragged me, pretty much against my will, to see this new one, Star Trek: Into Darkness.

So in this movie this asshole terrorist who we find out is the Khan of this universe blows up some shit on Earth and flees to the Klingon home world to hide out. So the universe-2 crew goes out to find him and then we start ripping off Wrath of Khan, all the while missing the point of the movie we're referencing, and I almost cry.

At one point I actually thought this wouldn't be as bad as the first. I see them wrestling with their orders to take Khan out rather than capture him and they talk about how he should get due process. But don't worry that bit of social commentary is quickly abandoned in favor of explosions and retarded action sequences and a rip off of the tragic end of Wrath of Khan only with Kirk in Spock's place. Before we even have time to feel a damn thing for Kirk we use Khan's magic blood to bring him back to life. Why rip off Wrath of Khan like that? Isn't the whole point of a reboot to do something different? I mean the last movie might have been stupid as hell but at least it didn't just rehash an older, far better movie. All seeing this does is remind me I could have just watched a DVD of Wrath of Khan.

After Kirk "dies" Spock screamed "Khan!" I swear I almost screamed at the damn movie and chucked my cherry Coke at the screen. It almost physically hurt me. Bite my ball sack Abrams. My friend captured my initial reaction the this coat hanger abortion to send to another friend. I was a bit upset.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

I hopped on board Supergirl last issue because I'm just a sucker for a Supergirl/Power Girl team up or fight. Last issue ended with the two Kara's in Supergirl's underwater fortress and the computer realized there were two and decided Power Girl was a clone and went nuts trying to kill her. This issue is pretty much just the computer trying to kill Power Girl, then deciding Supergirl is the clone and trying to kill her, then the two finally manage to destroy Supergirl's fortress, which Supergirl is obviously a little bummed out about at the end of the issue. This was a pretty damn good read, the banter back and forth between the two Karas and the kryptonian computer was really enjoyable and even made me laugh in a few spots. Other than Action Comics #9 this is the first Super book I've enjoyed out of all the ones I've read in the New 52. Definitely worth checking out.

The crossover event of 2013 continues. I've you haven't already check out my reviews of parts one, two, three, and four. Not a lot really happens this issue. Our heroes have invaded the pocket dimension of the Skull Egg Zone to save Dr. Light and stop Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily. They battle Mega Man's double Copy Robot as well as some other villains and we take a few pages to showcase the trippy Skull Egg Zone, which is mostly just an excuse to throw in some nods to various Sonic and Mega Man games. We also see that Eggman and Wily's bromance is starting to end it's honeymoon stage and the two are arguing a bit more. And at the end we see the reveal of the eight Roboticized Masters.

It's a pretty cool splash page reveal but given that Mega Man was able to de-roboticize Tails just by copying his power like he does to other Robot Masters, the Roboticized Masters just don't seem like the threat that they should. All and all though this story line has been and continues to be an absolute blast. If you're not reading this you should be.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Being a comic book nerd I love checking out different comic book stores whenever I can get the chance. Hell, when I hear about one in driving distance I've never been too that sounds worth checking out I've been known to make a day trip of it. I've been to comic book stores all over Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Washington DC. So I figured it might be worth sharing my thoughts on all the different stores I've been to. Let's start with one of the most famous comic shops in the country, Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash.

I've been to this one three times over the years, twice before it got its own show and I gotta tell you, it's kinda lame. I went this weekend and they were clearly in between filming cycles and the place was a damn mess. There were boxes of crap everywhere and it made looking around rather difficult. Now to be fair the other two times I went things were a bit more orderly but still not as organized as it should be. This past time Walt and Mike were both there and neither asked me if I needed any help or even said a word to me before I went to check out. I can tell you there is quite a bit of difference between the customer service when the cameras off and cameras on. Also the prices were insane. I saw a number of used out of print trades marked up to stupid prices that I normally see in other comic stores for just cover price.

If you're a big fan of Kevin Smith it's a decent enough store. The place is full of Kevin Smith crap, the walls adorned with signed comics by him, huge displays of his recent books and t-shirts of things from his movies. But if you're looking for comic books you could do a lot better, if you want a Mooby hoody then I guess this is the place for you. If you're a huge Kevin Smith fan it might be worth checking this store out, and Red Bank is a fun little town with a lot of cool stores, but for the most part the Stash is really disappointing, you would expect a famous comic book store owned by a millionaire celebrity to be a lot better than just a small disorganized vanity piece.

This is the story of James White, an associate pastor at a big mega church who ends up reassigned to be the pastor of a tiny poor little black church in Atlanta. So he has to take his wife, named Lily White (get it?), and his two spoiled upper middle class kids who's names I don't remember because I never once was made to care about them in this movie, and moves them to this impoverished black community. And you can imagine that wacky hi jinks ensue, or at least they would if the makers of this comedy remembered to put any actual jokes in it. But that's not all, it turns out this poor as dirt church can't pay it's bills, so we gotta have a benefit concert to raise the money or the "evil" banker will foreclose on them.

This didn't have to suck this bad, it really didn't. There were a few talented comedic actors in this. I mean it's got the dad from Family Matters in it. But they had NOTHING to work with here. There were like 3 or 4 moments that made me chuckle, and I think that was just me growing desperate to find some humor here. For the most part this movie goes back and forth between "emotional" moments that were just boring and "comedic" moments that were just awkward and painful. Maybe if you would have taken the gloves off and gone R with the humor or at least PG-13 or PG you could have gotten something out of this. The premise certainly has potential even if it is a bit tired and over done. But as it stands this was a waste of 88 minutes and personally I was rooting for the banker.

So with a new DCU/He-Man crossover coming soon I thought it would be worth taking a look at the first such crossover, He-Man vs Superman in DC Comics Presents #47.

Our story begins with a brief few couple page intro to He-Man and his world, then the same for Superman, and then we cut to Skeletor trying to break into Castle Greyskull.

So Skeletor knows he needs both halves of the sword of power to get in, but figures somehow that rule doesn't apply to him. That might just be a brand new level of villain arrogance. I mean his plan was basically "Fuck you, I'm Skeletor!"

Well, this obviously doesn't work, and indeed the resulting magical explosion created a doorway to the DC Universe which Superman goes through. Supes and Skeletor fight for a little while before He-Man shows up. Skeletor uses a magic spell to get Superman to attack He-Man and the two of them duke it out for a bit before the spell wears off. As Superman and He-Man go to gang up on Skeletor he decided to get out of dodge and teleports away. Superman and He-Man shake hands and Superman goes back home through the magical portal.

This was a fun little crossover and it's a shame it wasn't followed up on more back when DC had the He-Man license. A couple of years ago there were DC/Masters of the Universe action figure two packs with Superman and He-Man, Lex Luthor and Skeletor, Aquaman and Mer-Man etc. They were cool but a little pricey. If you ever were a fan of He-Man you would definitely get a kick out of this issue but it's pretty pricey on the back issue market so I would really only suggest a hardcore He-Man fan get it. But with the upcoming six issue DC/Masters crossover mini who knows, maybe DC will reprint this issue. If they do you should definitely check it out.

Friday, May 10, 2013

DC just announced there will be a six issue Masters of the Universe vs DC crossover. I'm not a fan of the New 52 DC, or He-Man's new look, but it's hard not to get excited about the idea of the JLA vs He-Man and his crew. This isn't the first DC/He-Man crossover. He-Man fought Superman back in DC Comics Presents # 47. Let's hope this upcoming crossover is as good as that issue was and not a raging dumpster fire like most of New 52 DC is.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

If you haven't already, check out my reviews for parts one, two, and three. So the comic crossover event of 2013 continues. In this issue Sonic and Mega Man fight for a little bit in Mega Man's universe until they realize they are stuck in your standard 'heroes misunderstanding' fight and decide to work together. At that point they are attacked my the Roboticized Tails, now called Tails Man. They fight Tails Man for a while until Mega Man tries to copy his powers like he does to other Robot Masters. This reverts Tails back to normal. They head to Dr. Light's lab for answers only to find the lab under attack and Dr. Light being kidnapped by Metal Sonic and Bass. Mega Man, Proto Man, Rush, Sonic, and Tails all follow into the new base of Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily, the Skull Egg Zone.

This story has been an absolute joy so far. What can I really even say here, if you're not reading this you're wrong.

Monday, May 6, 2013

I've always been a big fan of Mariah. Damn that woman can sing. So I was happy to hear she was returning to the recording studio after not putting anything out for a while. This morning on the Elvis Duran show was the world premier of her new song featuring Miguel and all I can say is.....ehhh.

It's not a bad song by any stretch, but it's certainly not great and in my opinion not even really memorable. I listened to it like 4 times this morning (they were playing it every hour on the hour) and I still had to look it up online and give it another listen before writing this. It has WAY too much Miguel in it. You know Miguel right? Of "Who the fuck is Miguel?" fame. Honestly I had never heard of this guy and even checking his Wikipedia didn't ring any bells for me. He's not bad but he's no Mariah. And he is all over this song, to the point where it's almost Miguel featuring Mariah Carey rather than the other way around.

I expect better from Mariah, to wait so long for her to put something out and get this is just disappointing. This song feels kind of boring and forgettable.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Without giving much away the version of the Mandarin we see in Iron Man 3 is a much different character from the Mandarin you find in the comics. The director of Iron Man 3 originally didn't even want to use the Mandarin at all as he considered the character to be, as he put it, "a racist caricature". But is he? Well, I will grant you the way artists tended to draw him, especially in the silver and bronze age comics was pretty, shall we say, insensitive.

Yeah. I kinda see your point on that one. But does that really mean that the character at his core is a racist caricature? I don't think so. First of all for those of you who don't know his deal the Mandarin is a Chinese man very obsessed with ancient Chinese culture. He also has 10 magic rings that each do different things. But the conflict between him and Iron Man goes a little deeper than just magic vs technology. It's the futurist vs the traditionalist. It's about more than just the weapons the two men wield but the viewpoints they hold. I don't mind the changes to the character made in the movie, in fact I rather like them. I can't say I was ever a huge fan of the Mandarin and find the movie version to be a bit more interesting. But I think one sells the Mandarin short as a character to reduce him to simply the rather insensitive art and writing styles of the 60's. There have been plenty of good Mandarin vs Iron Man stories in the comics and will most likely be plenty more. And while I'm on the subject of the Mandarin, let's get a little nostalgic for a moment. The first time I ever saw the Mandarin was on a Marvel vs DC trading card of him fighting Black Adam. I was so new to comics I had never heard of either and didn't even know which one was which at first.

Yes. This was a pretty damn good movie. I was wondering how you would really go back to a solo Iron Man movie after the Avengers, wouldn't it feel like a step back? Wouldn't it feel like when he's in danger why doesn't he call up his super buddies? Well, this movie does a good job of handling that. I shows Tony suffering from anxiety attacks and probably even PTS after the events of the Avengers movies. He talks about how he still has a hard time dealing with it all, "aliens and gods and other dimensions and I'm just a man in a can" he says. Also his feud with the Mandarin gets rather personal so it makes sense he wouldn't want to farm it out.

As for the Mandarin himself, he at first seems to be a compelling amalgamation of all various terrorists and enemies to America. But once Tony corners him we find out he is simply a drug addicted British Actor, that I swear Ben Kingsley modeled a little after Russel Brand. Turns out the Mandarin is basically a fiction created by A.I.M to draw attention away from themselves. While I can understand why some fans may be turned off by that change I thought it was a downright brilliant twist.

The movie certainly wasn't flawless. There was a big battle scene at the end where Tony calls out all his other armors to fight as drones, but once he did it the question of why he didn't do that sooner became rather glaring to me. Also the U.S. government sends Rhodes, now calling himself Iron Patriot instead of War Machine (because it tested better with focus groups) to find the Mandarin. But I wondered why the government wouldn't also involve Captain America. I minor complaint I suppose but it bugged me. It would have been nice to mention it, like have them say something like "he's busy" or "we can't get a hold of him" but then I kinda thought the same thing about War Machine during Avengers. Also the post credits scene was a big let down. I expected something cool and jaw dropping like we see MODOK in an A.I.M. lab or Fin Fang Foom rising from the ocean or at least a lead in to the upcoming Ant-Man movie. But no, the teaser scene was just Tony telling he events of the movie to Bruce Banner like a therapy session. Lame.

All and all though this was a damn good superhero movie and easily the best super hero number 3 I've ever seen. So what are you waiting for? Go see this movie.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Did everyone enjoy Loyalty Day yesterday? I didn't even know this existed until this year. It's been around for a while, since like the 50's, but as our nation descends further and further into authoritarianism I personally find myself more and more creeped out by things like this. Our fearless leader had this to say.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2013, as Loyalty Day. This Loyalty
Day, I call upon all the people of the United States to join in support
of this national observance, whether by displaying the flag of the
United States or pledging allegiance to the Republic for which it
stands.

As for me, my political loyalty does not lie in a person, a party, or even ultimately a nation. My loyalty is with the ideal of human freedom and individual liberty. Therefor my loyalty to this country extends only so far as it is loyal to that ideal. And that is less and less each year.So I think I'd rather fly this flag than the one Barry meant.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

If you haven't already, check out my reviews of issues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6AU, 7, and 8. So this issue Ock-Spidey has figured out that Peter is alive in the back of his head and he uses a device to erase him. The devise doesn't totally work at first and Ock and Peter must battle in the mindscape of their shared brain and Ock apparently beats Peter. Badly. And now it seems Peter is erased for good. It was kind of a depressing downer issue. It was the first issue of this series I didn't care for. Unless, despite appearances Peter is still alive in there it seems Slott has really written himself into a corner for when the time comes, and it will, to restore Peter. Also I really felt like Peter went down way too easy, but maybe that's just me. The one thing that will be interesting is apparently Ock-Spidey has erased all of Peter's memories now so it will be harder to keep up his ruse, and frankly he wasn't doing that great a job to begin with. Hopefully next issue will be a little more enjoyable.

The comic crossover event of 2013 continues. If you haven't already check out my reviews for parts one and two. This issue deals mostly with the Blue Blur and the Blue Bomber duking it out in the Green Hill Zone in Sonic's world while Dr Wily and Dr Eggman observe and laugh. While that's going on Proto Man delivers some readings he got from the portal to Sonic's universe to Dr. Light. Dr. Light uses that data to reopen the portal and Mega Man goes through it getting Sonic to follow. Once in his home universe Mega Man calls for backup.

This crossover is great. It is every bit as fun as something like this should be. The fight between Mega Man and Sonic was great and satisfied both the Mega Man and Sonic fan in me. If you're not reading this you're wrong.